Author Archives: Joel Oliphint

Reflections on music blogs and the death of Donewaiting in Maura Magazine

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With the demise of The Other Paper (even its website!) and the forthcoming digital death of Donewaiting after our 10-year anniversary celebration this weekend, I don’t think I have it in me to muster up a lengthy farewell post. I pretty much said all I wanted and needed to say in “Dead Links,” a piece I wrote for the current issue of Maura Magazine, a new weekly iPad/iPhone publication from Maura Johnston. You can subscribe here for $2.99 or try out one issue for free if you’re not ready to pull the trigger. (Don’t be afraid to pull that trigger.)

I’ve never been the recognizable face or personality that Duffy was while he was in town. I tend to be more comfortable in the shadows of anonymity. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t enjoy reminiscing with you this weekend at Ace of Cups and Double Happiness. Come say hello and goodbye.

Video: Fall Out Boy – My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (feat. 2 Chainz)

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Not ashamed to admit I’m excited about the return of Fall Out Boy. What guilty pleasure?

New album, Save Rock and Roll, coming May 7, plus some surprise shows starting tonight and a full spring tour, including a Columbus date May 17 at the LC Pavilion:
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Listen: Time and Temperature session on Daytrotter

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On her last tour, Val Glenn aka Time and Temperature stopped by Daytrotter to play a few songs, and you can now hear the results of that session. Most of the tracks are from the full-length she’s currently finishing before exiting Columbus for chillier northern climes in March. While original plans were for a double-album follow up to Cream of the Low Tide, Glenn says she’s condensed it down to a single.

So head over to Daytrotter for an album preview and sink into these silky tunes. And don’t forget to come out early on Sunday, Feb. 17 to see Time and Temperature and Connections open up for Sinkane at Double Happiness for a show we’re throwing with Benco as part of Donewaiting’s 10-year/Farewell weekend.

T&T Daytrotter set list:
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Brite Winter: Cleveland’s outdoor art & music fest on Feb. 16

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I love the audacity of Cleveland’s Brite Winter festival, the brainchild of Jimmy Harris and Emily Hornack (formerly of Case Western Reserve). On Saturday, Feb. 16, in the dead of winter, Bad Racket Recording’s Thomas Fox has booked 48 bands to play outside on six stages. And it’s all free. Here’s how they explain it:

There might be snow, there might be rain, it might be cold, it might be a blizzard, but it doesn’t really matter. This is Cleveland, and we’re going to play outside. Going on our fourth year, we’ve had more support than ever before, as our region has decided that waiting for summer to have fun is not an acceptable way to live. Sure, we’ll have to work a little bit harder for to get what we want… that’s just like us too.

Check out the lineup below, which includes Columbus bands like The Floorwalkers, Maza Blaska, Saintseneca, Tin Armor and others. Full schedule here.
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Friday: Bonnie “Prince” Billy @ Wexner Center

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Will Oldham is coming to town as Bonnie “Prince” Billy, accompanied by players from his Chijimi EP: Cheyenne Marie Mize and Emmett Kelly. It’s a special performance — just one of three on this mini tour — that will likely incorporate a fair amount of songs the trio played at a sacred music festival in Milan.

To read more about the show, as well as BPB’s upcoming Everly Brothers covers record with Dawn McCarthy, check out my preview in the penultimate issue of The Other Paper. Deville also typed up his conversation with Oldham, and the Wexner leaped outside the box and had Oldham and Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams interview each other.

Nelsonville: Calexico added to May lineup, Cabin Fever Fest this Saturday with Freakwater, Cotton Jones, Tim Easton, Dolfish

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The folks behind the Nelsonville Music Festival announced more bands for the fest’s 2013 incarnation taking place May 30 – June 2. Calexico, a band I’ve been pining to see in Ohio for quite some time, will join the previously announced headliners Wilco and John Prine, plus Reigning Sound, Cotton Jones, Nick Tolford and more.

Weekend passes for the fest are on sale now, and if you order this week, you’ll also get a free ticket to the Cabin Fever Festival at Nelsonville’s Stuart’s Opera House this Saturday (1/19), featuring the best lineup this one-night mini fest has boasted in the past four years: Freakwater, Cotton Jones, Columbus ex-pat Tim Easton and Columbus’s very own Dolfish (Cleveland isn’t allowed to claim him as their own quite yet). To take advantage of that offer, just email tickets@nelsonvillefest.org. For Cabin Fever tickets alone it’s $15, but students (OSU, OU, CCAD, Capital, etc.) can get them for $10.

Or… want a free pair? Email contestdonewaiting@gmail.com with the subject GIMME CABIN FEVER by Thursday.

Breaking: Dispatch to cease publication of The Other Paper at the end of January

Not to overload you guys with death news, but the Dispatch Printing Company (parent company of the Columbus Dispatch) announced today that after this month it will cease publication of The Other Paper, which it acquired in the sale of American Community Newspapers back in 2011. Four more issues, then that’s it. Here’s the full release

Columbus, Ohio (January 4, 2013) – The Dispatch Printing Company announced today that it will cease publication of The Other Paper at the end of the current month. The last issue is set for distribution on Thursday, January 31, 2013.

The Other Paper was one of the Central Ohio media properties acquired in September, 2011 from American Community Newspapers. It became a second free-distribution entertainment weekly publication for The Dispatch Printing Company which already had Alive! in its portfolio of products.

“In viewing the research of who reads the two publications, and after hearing from the local advertising community, it became more and more obvious that one publication would better serve our readers and advertisers,” said Michael Fiorile, President and Chief Operating Officer of The Dispatch Printing Co.

Reader feedback indicated that The Other Paper and alive! had too much overlap between the two publications. Advertiser feedback indicated the two publications didn’t have enough differentiation in their audiences. Alive! was judged the stronger brand which led to the final decision.

This decision will allow more focus and resources to be directed toward alive! in 2013 which serves readers and advertisers in the very best way.

All media inquiries should be directed to Phil Pikelny, VP-Dispatch Digital and Chief Marketing Officer at (614) 461-5222 or ppikelny@dispatch.com

It’s sad news, and it stings, given that TOP was voted Ohio’s best alternative weekly by the Cleveland Press Club in 2011 and 2012. …I’ll probably have more to say later.

Video: Mike Doughty – “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (John Denver cover)

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It was a good year for good rock books. Joe Oestreich of Watershed released Hitless Wonder, probably my fave of the year, and Mike Doughty released The Book of Drugs. Doughty has been a busy man, and I’ve found he’s generally worth listening to, whether writing or releasing solo albums or mouthing off about the music industry.

His new album The Flip is Another Honey ($5) is a covers record. Check out the first video for the John Denver cover “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — a song you’re bound to hear at any given open mic or karaoke night. But Doughty does a good job of making it his own without excising the hook. (I’m also not ashamed to admit I’ve spent much of the holidays listening to an old vinyl copy of Rocky Mountain Christmas.)

Video: Jenny Mae – “Ho Bitch” (Live at Anyway 20th anniversary)

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Back in August we premiered the first video from Columbus ex-pat and Anyway Records alum Jenny Mae. The song was called “Ho Bitch,” off the album Don’t Wait Up for Me. (The track is far more lovely than the title implies.)

As mentioned previously, Mae played one of her first sets in ages over the weekend at Anyway Records’ 20th Anniversary show at Ace of Cups, and Surly Shirley was kind enough to capture some video of her performing “Ho Bitch,” ably backed by the Woosley Band. Enjoy.

And here’s that original video again:
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Anyway Records 20th Anniversary show

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Perhaps you heard about this on the Facebooks already, but if not, you really need to see this lineup, going down at Ace of Cups 12/21 and 12/22.

FRIDAY:
9:00 – St. Lenox
9:30 – Winter Makes Sailors
10:00 – Obnox
10:30 – New Bomb Turks
11:30 – Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments
12:15 – NECROPOLIS – covering Gaunt

SATURDAY – KIDS SHOW: 6-8pm – Free
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Chris Biester (from ADR)

SATURDAY – ADULTS:
8:00 – Belreve
8:45 – Jenny Mae
9:15 – Kyle Sowashes
10:00 – Moviola
10:45 – County Pharaohs
11:30 – Connections
12:30 – Greenhorn